I’d like to start researching to possibility of getting a carport put in behind our house and wanted to get some feedback and ideas. We do not have a driveway or a garage, only street parking but there is an alley behind our street and many people do have garages and carports back there

First off, building a full 2 car garage is just out of the question financially so that’s not an option.

Street parking works just fine 98% of the time, what I want this for are the times when the street is parked up for whatever reason and we are forced to park a half a block to a full block away AND the biggest problem: SNOW

When we have a very snowy season, our two cars get absolutely buried by the plows and I’m getting really tired of having to spend hours excavating them each time. If I can park them behind the house under cover, I may have to clean/dig a little but nothing like what I’m forced to do now. They do plow that alley as well so getting cars out of there after a blizzard won’t be an issue.

I’d like to put in a 2-car carport and will need to have a foundation put down first, would that be concrete? Or gravel?

I’m not sure what this would cost but I know it’s not cheap but still far less than a full garage.


I may need to have that section where the carport would sit expanded, there’s an upper section of our yard that’s level with the alley and the main section that is about 5 feet lower, with a bit of a hill and access steps from the lower yard. I’m not sure it would be deep enough, I think it’s maybe 15 feet deep without measuring.

Thanks!

We have a couple of two car all-steel prefab carports and a pole barn type with surplus telephone poles for posts. The steel ones are available designed to withstand various snow loads and wind conditions. Ours have done fine in 60+ mph gusts. These prefab ones used to be erected by traveling crews and were a far better price than the bids I got from local contractors using any of several construction methods, and were put up in one day. Now that covid exists and material costs are outta sight, I have no idea how competitive the prices are, or if they’re even still available.

When I bought my house a few years ago it had a 2 car car port. It was an add-on and not original to the house.

I’ve since filled it in with a full span garage door, two passage doors and windows.

My advice would be to build it such that over time you can enclose it in stages to give better protection and a bit more security.

We have a carport on the side of the house that was part of the original build. Concrete slab, about 10' x 25' too narrow to work on anything but the smallest cars, but an OK place to store the lawn mower, and hang tools on the wall. It is better than nothing, but I'd much rather have a real garage.

And check with your local jurisdiction. Sometimes carports are prohibited. I think it was because truckers were building them for semi tractors.

quote:

And check with your local jurisdiction. Sometimes carports are prohibited

That, and sometimes a building permit may be required. Some of this has to do with whether or not the structure is attached to the ground, and if so, how.

A buddy of mine keeps his big fifth wheel camper at my place. About a year and a half ago we were hammered with hail, and he asked if he could put up a big carport for the trailer. I think it's 16 feet wide, 46 feet long, and probably 15 feet tall at the peak. It was assembled by a traveling crew, and it's sitting on top of gravel with long spikes pinning it down to the ground. Metal on all sides except the front.

I’m aware of what my borough allows and I can put in a carport, I have to have a site inspection and get a permit.

The widow Anderson got three bids on one.
Ten posts ,rafters and roof
$12,000.00 was the cheapest,.
No guarantees ,when or if they can finish it.

She already had the concrete in.
That was for a single car space.

Put in one just before COVID. I used crushed gravel as a base as the land was very unlevel where I put it. Did the work myself and put a small concrete block retaining wall down each side to hold the gravel in place. Bought the largest double carport I could find from a steel building dealer who included installation. Total cost was south of $5K. Had I put down a concrete pad, something I was not able to do myself, the additional cost estimate was another $6K. If you use gravel as a base be aware that over time the gravel will settle out from under the foundation so that's why I used a retaining wall.

There's one at my guest house. The previous owner was a builder and erected it using trusses that he'd removed when rebuilding a home that had fire damage. The insurance company told him to replace them all even the ones that weren't burnt.
So it's built as you would a pole building with the treated posts buried maybe 2 1/2 or 3' deep. He and his two helpers took about a day setting the posts and a second day setting the trusses and installing the roof, so something like this wouldn't cost much to build.
I apologize for the clutter, I'm temporarily using it for my truck and trailer along with some other stuff. It's about 24' wide x 26' deep plus 1' overhang.

I measured this morning from the alley edge to the drop off/hill where the upper section of yard ends and it’s only 17 feet deep. I guess that will have to be built out with fill and a retaining wall to make it deep enough? Just eyeballing the nearest carport it looks like theirs is easily 30 feet deep total.

I have a 10x20 carport on a slab that’s attached to the main garage. A Ford F250 extended cab (not crew cab) fits just fine, but no room for anything else.

30' is a deep garage with room for work bench and riding mower in front. A typical one is now 24' x 24' while a small 2-car garage is 20' x 20'. It's hard to see in my picture but there's a good 8-9' in front of my Ridgeline.

I have built several. Here is my most recent built for a friend